Valadares

This band really surprised me. I was browsing the website of a local record company here in Washington, and saw their EP for sale. It was marked at only $5, and I liked the name, so I listened to a few sample clips and took a chance on it. The opening track, Manifesto (Don't Tell), begins with an a Capella intro, then kicks into straight up rock. The vocalist sounds a lot like Tess Wiley (early Sixpence None the Richer, Velour 100), one of my favorite female singers. The main style is reminiscent of Paramore, but with a more raw, rough-around-the-edges feel to it. Unfortunately, I could only find one of their songs on YouTube. Here's "Manifesto (Don't Tell)":



The record label has this SoundCloud widget featuring short clips of each song on their EP:


And other than a mention of a new track on Spotify, which I can't get to play for some reason, I haven't seen any update from them since 2017. I hope that's not the last of them, they're a fantastic band in my opinion.
If you like what you hear in the samples and video, consider purchasing their EP here.

New Year, New Music?

The past few years I've mostly forgotten about our little music blog and the friends I've made through this little endeavor. As is often the case, life snuck up on me and I haven't had much time to focus on posting music, introducing new bands and other such things. But I've come to miss it quite a lot. So, if I don't get too busy with the myriad other things (I'm now a full-time caregiver for my 91-year-old grandpa, I'm soon to be engaged, and my family has already started making plans for the wedding), I'll try to share some of the music I've discovered recently. Here's a few off the top of my head:

Valadares
Burdens Within
Small Town Titans
Brightgray
Cloud Break
NF

So... stay tuned! Here's hoping we can revive this thing!

Oh... Have I ever mentioned I write my own music? This year I'm going to try and get some more professional recordings done of songs I've written. So if you're curious what I sound like, be on the lookout for that! lol

OverKast

OverKast is a local band whose vocalist I befriended recently. They play faith-based hard rock with a late '90s-early 2000's feel to it. Sounds like Disciple and Pillar on the Christian end, Breaking Benjamin and Seether on the mainstream end. As usual, I'll offer a few examples of their music to let you get an idea of what they play. They're currently working on a new album, so if you have a couple extra bucks, I'd encourage you to donate. I'll include the link to their campaign after the music.

From their 2009 self-titled album, here's "The Edge"

Also from their self-titled album, here's "Unwanted". Definitely hear some Alter Bridge/Creed influences here.

From their demo CD, here's "To Live For"

And a song from their upcoming album, "You're Not Alone", recorded live at the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle

If you like what you hear, please consider donating to help them record their next album.

Donation Page: https://myevent.com/overkastmusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overkastmusic3/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/overkastmusic

Maylene & the Sons of Disaster

Been listening to Maylene for a while now. Heard them first on a compilation CD back in '09, and they've been kinda growing on me since. They have a kind of southern hard rock mixed with metal sound. Like if George Thorogood decided to start screaming metalcore vocals instead of singing. Maybe that's not the best description. Like always, give a couple songs a listen and decide for yourself.
Here's a song from their first album, also my initial introduction to them. "Tough as John Jacobs":

From their second album, here's "Raised by the Tide":

Their third album is the only one I owned for a while, so I love pretty much every song. I'll share 2 of my favorites. Here's a song with mostly clean vocals and good ol' Southern rock n' roll vibes, "Listen Close":

And here's "Oh Lonely Grave":

They have a 4th album out, but I haven't gotten to listen to it yet. Let me know what you think of it all.

Love and Death

If you know the band Korn, you probably have heard of their guitarist, Brian "Head" Welch. He was a backing vocalist and one of the founding members of the band. In 2005, he left Korn after becoming a Christian. He released a solo album in 2008 titled "Save Me from Myself", and in 2013, he formed the band Love and Death and released an album titled "Between Here & Lost". I picked that album up on a whim recently, and found that I really like it. If you're into Korn you're probably going to really like this one. As is the case with most of my posts, I'll share a few of my favorite tracks and encourage you to check the rest out for yourself.
One of my favorite tracks off this album is titled "Chemicals", about the struggle with drug addiction:


Here's "I W8 4 U", featuring Mattie Montgomery of For Today:

Here's "By the Way":

One stand-out track on this album is "Whip It", a Devo cover song. Yeah, you read that right. DEVO. But give it a listen, it's almost nothing like the original. And I like it:

Crazy, right? :)

Well, that's a decent idea of what you're getting into with Love and Death. Let me know what you think, as always.

Big Dismal

Remember that brief period in the late '90s and early 2000s where everyone tried to sound like Scott Stapp? Well, the lead singer of this band pulls off a pretty convincing double. Although the musical style doesn't exactly match that of Creed, if you were listening and not really paying attention, you might begin to wonder if it was a long-lost Creed song. Sadly, they only recorded one album before fading into relative obscurity. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Big Dismal songs in the hopes that you'd also enjoy them. For my first example, here's a kind of power ballad-type song, "Remember (I.O.U)":
Here's one featuring Amy Lee (of Evanescence fame), entitled "Missing You":
This song was my introduction to the band, way back in the early 2000's. Called "Running Through My Mind":
And finally, a song which doesn't even sound like the same band. Kind of a Matchbox Twenty or early Train vibe to it. Titled "Just the Same":
Let me know what you think of this band. I'm a sucker for anything similar to Creed, so I automatically liked them the first time I heard them. Most, if not all, of their songs can be found on YouTube.

Christian Music Corner: Stavesacre

Stavesacre seems all but forgotten nowadays. Although they were never big like Creed or P.O.D., they consistently put out excellent music from 1995 to 2009. Stavesacre was formed by members of the crossover thrash/punk band The Crucified, as well as members of hardcore punk bands The Blamed and focused. But their musical style doesn't really reflect much of the thrash or punk origins, instead going for more of a hard-rock sound more in the veins of Project 86 and... well, I'm not really sure. It's hard to categorize Stavesacre or offer a similar band for comparison. So, as with my previous posts, I'll just link to some of their songs and let you judge for yourself.

Here's a song from their first album, titled "Threshold":
From their second album, here's "Colt .45":
From their third (also my favorite) album, here's "Sundown Motel":
Also from their third album, here's "Gold and Silver":
From their 4th album, here's "Witch Trial":
From their 5th and final album, here's "The Trouble With Being Born":
Like with other posts, if you don't like one song, try another. There's quite a variety out there, and many of their songs are available on YouTube for your listening pleasure. Let me know what you think!

Sam's Christian Metal Corner: August Burns Red

I recently got started listening to the metalcore genre of music. This genre is defined as "a mix between hardcore punk and extreme metal". Some examples of metalcore bands include Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine. There are several Christian bands in this genre as well: As I Lay Dying, Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, and August Burns Red are some of the most popular. This week, I picked up an album titled "Rescue & Restore" by August Burns Red (hereafter referred to as ABR). Here's one of my favorite songs from the album, "Fault Line":



 I like how the lyrics start with the line "We all hurt. We all need. We all cry. We all bleed." I have gone through some rough stuff in my life, and this confirms that I'm not the only one out there who hurts.

ABR also does some interesting instrumentation on this album. Here's "Creative Captivity", which utilizes several unexpected instruments, including a guzheng (a Chinese zither), a trumpet, violin, and cello:



 ABR did an instrumental Christmas album last year, entitled "Sleddin' Hill". They put a metal twist to holiday favorites such as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Carol of the Bells", and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". They did a punk version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and a few original compositions, my favorite of which is "Flurries":



They have also been featured in the popular "Punk Goes..." album series. Here they are brutally murdering Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time":



I'm not going to post a whole bunch of videos, but if you like what you hear, check them out! Most, if not all, of their songs can be found on YouTube.

Christian Music Corner: The Violet Burning

The Violet Burning is one of those odd cases in music. They prefer not to be called a "Christian Band", and yet, a lot of their music embodies everything that Christian music should be. But at the same time, it's completely different from anything in the worship music genre/scene/whatever. Ever since their debut album way back in 1989, "The Violets", as they're nicknamed, have been putting out powerful music. It's really hard to pin down one or two bands they sound like, so I'll just post a few of my favorites and let you judge for yourself:





This song reminds me of the band Filter. Especially the song "Nice Shot".



And here's a song from their most recent album. Very reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins, if you ask me!



Of course, the songs I posted were just a drop in the bucket of TVB's music. They have 13 albums, and I've only heard songs from 4 or 5 of those. I'd recommend checking them out, and if one album doesn't "get" you, try another! You may fall in love!

Christian Metal Corner: Tourniquet

I thought I'd do a post about one of my favorite Christian Speed/Thrash/etc Metal bands, Tourniquet. They just released their 8th album, Antiseptic Bloodbath. Here are a few of my favorite songs from their most recent release:
Antiseptic Bloodbath

I love the intro to "Fed by Ravens, Eaten by Vultures". Nice use of cello and violin.
And no Tourniquet album would be complete without a song about their strong stance against animal abuse. Here's their song "86 Bullets" about the killing of an elephant named Tyke. (Wikipedia article here)
At the moment, the entire "Antiseptic Bloodbath" album is uploaded on their YouTube account. I recommend checking it out, and as always, support the artist if you like their music.